DD wants to be a doctor - work experience?

[UselessMumAlert]

DD13 currently wants to be a doctor. Her school suggest that as of this year, they look for a weeks work experience in the holidays. The local hospital offers a scheme but for children interested in a nursing apprenticeship/degree. I'm going to suggest she applies for it anyway to get as broad an idea as possible or health care opportunities.

She asked at our GP last time she had an appointment but they will only take children who are 14 or older. Is it simply a case of asking several different practices or will they all have the same guidelines?

I don't have the faintest idea about careers in medicine/healthcare so I'm not sure where to start or what advice to offer her.

Longer term St John’s Ambulance might be good to do.

Try other hospitals as well, some may have a broader careers scheme

Also you may have more luck with the universities - some do summer schools like this one New online medicine summer school for Year 11 students | Hull York Medical School

But yes, broader healthcare experience will gain a lot of transferrable skills. Lots of prospective students work/volunteer in care homes. Demonstrates caring qualities, compassion while learning about communicating with patients, etc.

But at 13yo she probably is too young for much at the minute.

Much of it is to do with insurance. we rarely have year 10s in for work experience, which is the age most teens do a work experience. I work in a big teaching hospital. I would also think subject matter. Not sure some consultations would be appropriate for a young teen.

Young people I know who applied for medicine found all people-facing experience useful in their application and wrt working with public - for example helping with younger children at a sports club or guiding; job (when over 16) in a restaurant; volunteering or working with people with additional needs / in a care home. These were more accessible and in some ways more useful than a couple of days work shadowing.

There are a couple of free online "work experience" recorded packages she could do.

I think you'd struggle to get her a placement in a clinical setting at 13. Does she have an idea of the type of Dr she'd like to be? Eg if she'd like to be a paediatrician, she could get experience working with children in a nursery. Or as suggested above volunteer in a care home for general caring skills. When we looked at this for DD we were told that longer, more sustained roles even if not directly connected to medicine were of value, as they show motivation, the ability to stick with a thing, and develop the soft transferable skills like dealing with people. So a couple of hours a week for a year in the volunteering role.

This is what a DD’s friend did. Qualified years ago, now a GP.

My DC, at 16, volunteered in the local hospital, in a nursing home and got work experience in a GP surgery.

I’m a hospital medic and have never seen anyone allowed access under 16yrs.
An ongoing commitment (for example volunteering) is generally regarded more positively if it occurs years rather than a few days on a ward.
I would contact your local hospital when dd is 15 and find out about any programmes they have.
We are definitely not allowed to arrange things ad hoc so as not to advantage those with medic friends and family.

My dd wants to be mental health nurse. And we've had trouble with experience and placements. There was another thread recently about it.

What we're doing:

https://www.springpod.com/ this website has virtual work experience in the medical field.

Try and get onto a St Johns ambulance course or cadets in your area. They get very full up and often you'll sit on a waiting list for a long time.

Volunteer or join girlguiding.

Volunteer at a charity shop as generally this kind of experience is looked on favourably on a CV.

Volunteer or ask for experience at schools. My dd is going to her younger siblings primary. It's not directly related but gives experience with children and she can see some of the SEN provision at work.

I forgot to mention my dd is 14

Definitely apply for the local hospital work experience.
Getting clinical experience is hard, so take what she can get.
Sign her up for first aid - Red Cross do a teen one
St. John's ambulance is great longer term
Volunteering at local community centre or aged care facility a friend did that at a local GP (but partner was a family friend), so could be hard to access.
Academic grades won't be enough.
Think DoE, sports clubs, pt job (ideally with some tie to medicine)
Good luck!

Until she's 16 there are very few (if any) places that will take her. St Johns is a great idea though.
DD1 volunteered at a nursing home once she was 16, and also with a charity that did camping with children who have disabilities, but the key is showing she is caring and persistent and able to deal with lots of personalities (not just her own social strata as it were!)
DD1 found herself up against lots of privately educated young people who had technically more access to medical taster programmes and parents who were doctors but it didn't matter; she was bright and passionate and it showed.
She's a GP now :)

The kind of work experience I did to get into med school in the 90s has basically been phased out.

What is very valuable is experience of the general public e.g. retail jobs, working in McDonalds, when she is a bit older in care homes.

If you don't like dealing with the public in all their nuttiness, it isn't the job for you.

Thanks for some things to think about. I've looked into a Red Cross course, but they're booked out until November, except the one which clashes with match weekend. Typical! We don't have a St. John's equivalent near us unfortunately, and I can't find anything similar. I've seen the Red Cross also do a babysitting course, so will look at that with her, download their apps. I'll also suggest some work experience in retail/fast food/nursery/school and see what we can come up with.

When do your DC volunteer? At the moment, DD has activities every day of the week after school and often isn't home until 830pm. Then music commitments and weekends are often filled with matches. Of the 5 weekends in March, she only has one free...

It's one of these things that something will need to give in terms of her existing commitments to fit in medicine specific volunteering.
You've got time she's only young, but the more she can get - the better.
Plan for doing volunteering during school holidays and definitely plan PT work around that.
Get the first aid course booked.

I agree that any customer facing experience is valuable. DD's school sent out some links a few months ago to some events for teens wanting to work in the NHS. From memory, there was a range of online and face to face opportunities, but I can no longer find the link. Is it worth asking your school / career's staff if they know of anything?

I found this but it's less detailed than the one I remember reading. www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/career-planning/career-planning/career-events